Highlights

Developed a statewide strategy for utility-administered solar programs and sustainable models for solar deployment to benefit Virginians and others throughout the Southeast.

Assessed existing solar programs for wider-scale deployment and performed technical engineering and business planning studies to identify PV integration impacts across generation, transmission, and distribution systems.

Produced an economic study of utility-administered solar, which included an evaluation of the impacts of tax policy on solar deployment and an assessment of soft cost reduction opportunities.

Created a solar workforce development strategy.

Background

Headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, Dominion Energy is one of the nation’s largest producers and transporters of energy, with a portfolio of approximately 26,000 megawatts of electric generation; 66,600 miles of natural gas transmission, gathering, storage, and distribution pipelines; and 64,500 miles of electric transmission and distribution lines. The company operates one of the largest natural gas storage systems in the U.S. with approximately 1 trillion cubic feet of capacity, and serves nearly 6 million utility and retail energy accounts.

The ultimate goal for Dominion Energy’s Virginia Solar Pathways Project was to develop a collaborative utility-administered solar strategy for the Commonwealth of Virginia. The process had three main objectives:

Serve as a replicable model for other states with similar policy environments, including the entire Southeast region.

At the outset of this project, Virginia had a nascent solar market. Dominion Energy Virginia offered several solar programs to its retail customers, but its generation fleet in Virginia consisted of just four distributed solar facilities totaling a little more than 1 MW of capacity. The company adopted a goal of developing 400 MW of utility-scale solar capacity by 2020. By the end of its three-year Solar Market Pathways project, Dominion Energy had dozens of solar facilities operational or under development in Virginia, totaling 744 MW of generating capacity. The company’s 2018 Integrated Resource Plan calls for the potential development of 4,720 MW of additional solar capacity by 2033. The parent company, Dominion Energy, has grown to become one of the top 10 investor-owned utility holding companies in terms of ownership of operating and planned solar capacity in 2017.

Dominion Energy’s recent expansion of solar capacity in Virginia is the result of a comprehensive solar strategy. The Virginia Solar Pathways Project report documents Dominion Energy’s solar strategy and puts forth a model for other utilities that wish to increase their ability to manage and administer solar programs and sustainably expand large-scale and distributed solar capacity.

Stakeholder Process

To craft this strategy, Dominion engaged a Core Advisory Team made up of a diverse group of stakeholders from a state government agency, an environmental organization, local community representatives, research and educational institutions, and a solar installation company.

The Core Advisory Team participated in four training sessions in the spring of 2015 to help develop a common understanding of the electric grid, the distribution system, the economics of solar, and soft costs. Advisors received basic training in the areas of transmission and distribution grids, generation resources and technologies, solar program models, market and regulatory issues affecting deployment, and the scientific and engineering aspects of solar PV, including the evolution of solar panel technology within the previous 20 years. The following training materials established a common foundation of technical and regulatory understanding for the Core Advisory Team:

The Core Advisory Team also helped review and guide the four reports included in the Technical Studies section below, and enabled the Virginia Solar Market Pathways Strategy to be shaped by perspectives from different stakeholders, including subject matter experts and researchers with policy and technical expertise.

Solar Integration Studies

To guide decisions and facilitate the system-wide integration of solar generation, Dominion Energy Virginia commissioned a series of four technical studies and developed a short report summarizing the key takeaways and conclusions of each study:

Solar PV Integration Study 1: Interconnection Practices and Distribution System Impacts: This study provides information about how the distribution system is impacted by a high level of penetration of solar distributed generation (DG), the types of technologies needed to support high penetrations of solar DG, and the costs associated with mitigation and distribution upgrade options. The two most important outcomes of the study were the knowledge gained through benchmarking with other utilities and the simulation modeling of specific subsets of distribution feeders on the company’s distribution network. This simulation modeling quantified the impacts of increasing amounts of solar DG capacity and determined critical levels that could be interconnected without the need for distribution upgrades.

Solar PV Integration Study 2: Generation and Transmission System Impacts: This study included simulation analyses of Dominion Energy Virginia’s transmission and generation systems under different allocation scenarios of solar DG and large-scale solar throughout the company’s service territory. It provides a preliminary analysis and roadmap for Dominion Energy Virginia to safely and reliably integrate increasing amounts of solar PV into its interconnected transmission and generation system.

1. The potential for soft cost reductions through utility-administered solar.
2. Utility involvement in community solar development in the Southeast.
3. The financial impacts of tax normalization policy on utility-led solar development.

Community Shared Solar in Real Life: The Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA) completed this study of community solar programs across the country in order to provide insights into existing program designs, program performance, and the customer experience. SEPA interviewed program managers at nine investor-owned utilities that offered community solar programs, and surveyed over 400 community solar program subscribers. The study is a valuable compilation of lessons learned that informed Dominion Energy Virginia’s community solar program development.

Report:Consolidated Studies ReportConsolidated Studies Report

This document briefly summarizes the key takeaways and conclusions from the four technical studies described above.

Consolidated Studies Report: This document briefly summarizes the key takeaways and conclusions from the four technical studies described above.

Developing the Virginia Solar Pathways Strategy

Guided by the conclusions and findings of the comprehensive technical studies described above, the Dominion Energy Virginia team developed a Virginia Solar Pathways Project strategy report that details a statewide strategy for utility-administered solar programs. The project team also worked with the Core Advisory Team and community college partners to develop a solar workforce development strategy for the Commonwealth.

Key Takeaways and Next Steps

Solar is growing in Virginia faster than projected when this project began. By the time projects currently under development are completed, installed solar capacity will be nearly double Dominion Energy’s original project goals for the year 2020, demonstrating how quickly a nascent solar market can grow. Dominion Energy Virginia is now working to continue implementation of the Virginia Solar Pathways strategy, which includes establishing programs such as a community solar pilot program.

Based on experience and knowledge gained through the Virginia Solar Pathways Project, Dominion Energy Virginia and its Core Advisory Team offered in the final strategy report a set of key recommendations for replicating the Virginia Solar Pathways strategy for sustainable deployment in other states:

Engage in stakeholder collaboration

Work to avoid any unintended adverse consequences of state policy changes

Foster and maintain dialogue with large customers

Listen to customer preferences and match them to resource availability/attributes

Develop customized approaches to modeling and planning for solar integration

Prioritize grid modernization and customer empowerment

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The information, data, or work presented herein was funded in part by the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE),
U.S. Department of Energy, under Award Number DE-EE0006907.